BBC Radio 4 is to drop its long-running morning slot Book of the Week to make way for a landmark 100-part series, A History of the World in 100 Objects, made in collaboration with the British Museum.

The global history series will be presented by British Museum director Neil MacGregor and was described by the Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, as the "most ambitious and exciting factual project" on the station since he became controller five years ago.

Using 100 of the museum's treasures, including a statue of an Egyptian pharaoh, shadow puppets from Indonesia and an early medieval helmet discovered in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, the project aims to tell the history of the world.

The partnership with the British Museum, which has been more than three years in the making, has also spawned a 13-part drama series on children's digital TV channel CBBC, Relic: Guardians of the Museum, and will see tie-ups between local BBC TV and radio stations and more than 350 museums around the country.

Radio 4's 100-part series will air in three chunks next year, beginning in January, in the 9.45am slot normally reserved for Book of the Week, and again at 7.45pm in the evening slot occupied by the Woman's Hour drama repeat.

"Book of the Week is a vital part of Radio 4 and frequently scintillates – and I have no doubt that some of the audience will feel its absence," Damazer said on his Radio 4 blog. "But I think every now and then I need to adapt the schedule and I am sure that the series will be terrific. The Woman's Hour drama – currently wonderfully filled by Our Mutual Friend – will still be broadcast at 10.45am."

Damazer said each episode would feature a description of the object but most of it would focus on "areas where radio excels as a medium – on how the object was made, its political, economic and cultural significance, how the object came to be in the collection, and so on. I have heard those that have been made so far and they are wonderful."

MacGregor said he would look at each object in roughly chronological order, "spinning the globe so we can see what's going on in the world at various moments".

Each week will be focused around a particular theme, such as "after the Ice Age" and "meeting the gods", with contributors including Bob Geldof, Wole Soyinka, Grayson Perry, Madhur Jaffrey and Seamus Heaney.

The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, said he was "incredibly privileged" for the BBC to be involved in the partnership with the British Museum, revealing the stories behind the "100 touchstones of global culture".